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Archive is a music-collective, originating from London, UK, but based in France where the biggest part of their fanbase resides. Originally signed to Warner Music France, they have since founded their own label, Dangervisit Records. Archive was formed by Londoners Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths in 1994 and began as an electronic project but their style has evolved and vastly changed throughout the years, shifting with almost every album, in the same way as their line-up (with Keeler and Griffiths being the only fixed members). The first album, Londinium released in 1996, mixed the Br ...read more
Archive is a music-collective, originating from London, UK, but based in France where the biggest part of their fanbase resides. Originally signed to Warner Music France, they have since founded their own label, Dangervisit Records. Archive was formed by Londoners Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths in 1994 and began as an electronic project but their style has evolved and vastly changed throughout the years, shifting with almost every album, in the same way as their line-up (with Keeler and Griffiths being the only fixed members). The first album, Londinium released in 1996, mixed the Bristol trip-hop trend of bands like Massive Attack and Portishead wih rap (with Roya Arab and rapper Rosko John as guest vocalists). The second album, Take My Head released in 1999, was a collaboration between the two founders and singer Suzanne Wooder (only album she featured in), notable for its pop vibe and less dark atmosphere ; the band admitted this is the album they were the least fond of. With yet a new line-up (and the addition of Craig Walker, formerly of Power of Dreams, but also Maria Q), the band took a more prog-rock approach on their third album, You All Look The Same To Me released in 2002 (with some people drawing a link with Pink Floyd on tracks such as “Again” and “Finding It So Hard”, notable for their unusual lengths) while still maintaining electronic elements. After recording two more artistically—but not too commercially—successful albums, the soundtrack to movie Michel Vaillant in 2003 and their fourth studio album, Noise in 2004 (which was also proposed in an acoustic version named Unplugged), Walker left the band due to personal differences. The project continued on as a collective, with new vocalists Pollard Berrier (of Bauchklang) and Dave Pen (of Birdpen). In May 2006 they released the album Lights (with Berrier on lead vocals), which heavily followed the trend initiated with You All Look The Same To Me (especially on the title track). It is at this point that the band saw growing popularity and critical acclaim, especially in France, Greece, Germany and Poland. The following year, Archive released Live at the Zénith, which was recorded on January 20th, 2007 at the sold out Zénith Arena in Paris. In 2009, they came back with their sixth and seventh albums, Controlling Crowds and Controlling Crowds Part IV, which saw the return of Rosko John and offered them their biggest commercial success. The song “Bullets”, featuring on the former, became one of the band’s most famous song, partly due to its inclusion in the early trailer for CD Projekt video game Cyberpunk 2077. Three years later, on their newly-founded label Dangervisit Records and with the addition of vocalist Holly Martin, they released With Us Until You’re Dead which they described as “...love songs basically, but coming at the subject matter in that non-formatted Archive way.” Going deeper in the progressive and experimental dimension of their music, Archive announced in November 2013 details for their most ambitious project to date : a new album called Axiom accompanied with a forty-minute short film created with the help of Spanish collective NYSU and in which the songs serve as script and offer the majority of the dialogue. This album was finally released in May 2014. 2015 and 2016 saw the release of their tenth and eleventh albums, Restriction and The False Foundation, both offering a blend of electronic and progressive tracks and more calm and intimate songs. Restriction was also followed by Unrestricted which consisted of remixes. The band then released two special albums. The first one, 25, came out in 2019 in the form of a 42-track best-of/restrospective as a celebration for the band’s 25 years of activity. The second one, Versions released in 2020, is a collection of 10 previously released songs that were remixed or re-recorded (the album itself had another remixed version called Versions: Remixed). Six years after their last studio album, Archive came back in 2022 with the very ambitious Call to Arms & Angels. This album, heavily inspired by the pandemic and the isolation it caused, saw the introduction of new vocalist Lisa Mottram and can be seen as the culmination of the band’s progressive journey. It was also accompanied by the documentary Super 8 and its associated soundtrack as well as a private concert recorded at the Grandes Serres of Pantin, France, and broadcast by the French-German TV channel Arte. Darius Keeler announced in August 2022 that he had been diagnosed with cancer which he had to be treated for, thus postponing the Call To Arms & Angels tour. This tour eventually took place in 2023, with the last two dates in Paris and London, the former leading to a limited edition live EP vinyl (unavalaible on streaming platforms), highlighting the special attachment the band has with France. In 2023, the band recorded the soundtrack for French Netflix movie Les Voleuses and opened their Patreon page. The connexion between Archive and its French public was yet again shown with the announcement of a special 2-day concert scheduled in Paris in February 2025, during which the band will play 4 albums (namely You All Look The Same To Me + Noise / Controlling Crowds + Controlling Crowds Part IV). The overwhelmingly positive response to this news encouraged the band to schedule more shows in other cities throughout Europe. « hide |
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